Iwas blessed to be born to a lovely mother and father. My mother gave me her good looks and her strength. My father gave me his dry sense of humor and some of the best gifts I could ever have asked for — a good ear and a deep appreciation for great music. It is safe to say that my dad fueled my love for music and finding new artists.

The first band I really obsessed over was Guster. My dad and I shared the obsession, and soon, Guster Fever spread through our household and snaked its way into the lives of our close friends and extended family — because, as dad has taught me, the point of finding new music isn’t to keep it a secret.

The point is to take your boom box and pretend you are John Cusack from “Say Anything” so that everyone will hear it.

My dad actually discovered Guster thanks to me (you’re welcome, dad). I was 5-years old and was cast as Cinderella in a local play.

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The song playing as I made my exit? None other than “What You Wish For” by the band Guster, hailing from Boston and only starting to break away from its mainly college-student fan base.

As my dad heard Guster’s delicious melody flooding his ears, he knew he had to have it, so he drove to the nearest Virgin Records store, where he purchased the band’s first three albums — “Parachute,” “Goldfly” and “Lost and Gone Forever.”

Partly because of us, no doubt, Guster did go on to great success, releasing three albums since that fateful night, the most recent being “Easy Wonderful” (along with two live albums).

The band continues to evolve and now plays to a fan base of “5 to 55-year-olds,” drummer Brian Rosenworcel says, noting that it has long left behind its days of playing to solely college-student audiences and now shares the stage with acts like Ben Folds, John Mayer, Jack’s Mannequin, Philadelphia-born and bred Good Old War and comedian Jeff Garlin.

One possible explanation for this is the fact that Guster isn’t simply an act that shows up and just plays. Guster truly performs: Rosenworcel is wild on the drums, lead vocalist Ryan Miller not only impresses with his vocal chops, but also with his comedic abilities. Adam Gardner, lead guitarist, pops in once in a while with a witty comeback to Miller’s dry humor, while bassist Luke Reynolds looks ridiculously handsome, practicing his smolder on the ladies in the audience ... and plays a mean bass-line while doing so, which takes more talent than people realize.

After the show, Guster doesn’t disappear. The guys interact with fans. They want to know their fans and want to reciprocate the love they receive from them while onstage.

So Guster stays in touch. Rosenworcel writes a hilarious road journal that can be found on the band’s website, guster.com. Miller updates a Guster Twitter account regularly and spares no detail of life in the band or life on the road.

Considering this, I was surprised when Rosenworcel divulged that in his spare time he has been writing prose. I begged for a sample, but was unfortunately turned down.

Instead, I discovered that he has recently become somewhat YouTube-famous for a video of him instructing viewers on how to “Moby-wrap” twins, using his babies, Nico and Marshal, to demonstrate the method.

I brought up the fact that Nico and Marshal will be able to look up their father on the Internet some day in the near future, and asked him if that made him feel pressure to be more “PG” in his road journals, videos, or even his music, to which he assured me he felt no such pressure at all and that his kids would just have to deal with having an embarrassing father.

While Rosenworcel works on expanding his online persona for his children to discover when they come of age, Miller has taken a liking to scoring films, such as indie-hit “Safety Not Guaranteed,” while Gardner and his wife expand their nonprofit Reverb, which works with musicians to “green” their tours by utilizing sustainable practices.

While Guster recently toured the country with the Guster Strings Players, a tour that received rave reviews from fans and spawned a live album released earlier this year, Rosenworcel promises new material in the “not too distant future.”

So fear not, Gusterrhoids! After you catch them at the Mann Center for the Performing Arts on July 18 playing alongside “old friends” the Barenaked Ladies and Ben Folds Five, stay on the lookout for Guster on the musical horizon.

Maybe some of Rosenworcel’s prose will make it onto the next record; maybe he will keep his writing to himself for a little while longer. Either way, this longtime Guster fan is ready for some more Rosenworcel percussion, Reynolds bass and Miller/Gardner harmonies.

As I head off to Tulane University this fall to begin my first year of college, I know I will be sharing “Guster Fever” with my new comrades.

After all, it doesn’t matter where you go — “People like melodies,” Rosenworcel says. “We’re good at melodies.”

IF YOU GO: Guster, with Barenaked Ladies & Ben Folds Five, will perform at the Mann Center for the Performing Arts, Fairmount Park 52nd and Parkside,Philadelphia,Thursday, July 18, 7 p.m.